"Wiccapalooza"---love it!

The Lady Pele | April 20, 00:16 CET

Joyce Millman gets it right, like she always does. And as much as I've been thinking that there's just no way that they'd kill Buffy again, if the ending turns out to be anything like what she describes, I'll be satisfied. Great article.

keever | April 20, 00:19 CET

I adore the "Sacrifice" part of this article...if the finale turns out anything like that I'll die a happy girl.

Shroomlet | April 20, 02:05 CET

That was brilliant. I haven't felt as proud to be a Buffy fan as that article made me... well, ever.

mgldan | April 20, 02:48 CET

I couldn't of hated her idea of an ending anymore than I hated season 6, but *gasp* I did!!!!

nychick | April 20, 08:03 CET

Her idea for an ending is really silly. I'm hoping the writers don't have to resort to a really lame out-of-nowhere way to beat the First and wrap up the show. Since they've been dropping hints about important choices ("when the time comes, she won't choose you") from the 7th episode of the season, I hope they've actually planned ahead.

I really want the conclusion to evolve out of these core characters we've all watched grow for 7 years. Keep it reasonable and I will be content. But no mystical goddesses, please.

friarfunk | April 20, 10:01 CET

friarfunk: I read somewhere once that Joss has known for like 4 or 5 years what the final scene would be, even if everything in between wasn't set in stone; I don't know if that's still true or not. All the writers, however, have said that Joss maps out the beginning, middle, and end of every season before it starts. I think it's a safe assumption that they're not just winging it, and do have a plan.

jlp | April 20, 10:55 CET

I'm sorry but what a load of tosh. The only good thing about the article was that it mentioned the one ending that would be the most fitting and the most gratifying: that it was all a dream, all an insane delusion.

subtitles | April 20, 16:02 CET

And how would that be gratifying?

the_zeppo | April 20, 20:52 CET

How would that be gratifying you ask? Well, for one thing, Season 6 and 7 never happened!!!

nychick | April 20, 23:52 CET

Definitely not the best "Buffy" article that I've read this year (that would be Joy Press's piece in the Village Voice a few months back), but Joyce Millman had some interesting ideas. Although I'm not sure that I'd end the series the way that she describes (the Buffy-as-mystical-goddess thing sounds really lame) Millman does a good job of exploring the difficulty in drawing the series to a close and topping the season finales of years past.

nychick - Re: the "it was all a dream" ending, um, that would also mean that Seasons 1-5 never happened. This ending would essentially invalidate all the growth, all the sacrifices, all the hard-earned victories over the last seven years. I can't think of any ending that would be more infuriating, more of a cop-out, and more insulting to the show and its fans.

bobothebrave | April 21, 00:06 CET

How about an ending just that seasons 5 to 7 never happened (this has been suggested by others: The Scoobies are still asleep after "Restless" and have been dreaming three years' worth of stories)? None of the fake Dawn memories; Spike never took over the show; the Scoobies are still likable people; they wake up and realize: Gee, we'd better get our act together or we'll wind up dating soulless vampires, losing eyeballs and getting addicted to magic-crack. The Scoobies resolve never to do anything stupid like open a magic shop or get confused about whose blood is whose. A happy ending for all.

wilsonwilson | April 21, 05:01 CET

I thought that it was a very nice ending and doubted that Joss would ever give us that kind of ending, also what about Angel, he's crossing over for the last episode..(Highlight with mouse to see spoilers - Simon).

Is there a first good as opposed to the first evil and if so won't it probably be in at the end when things are put back into balance.

[ edited by Simon on 2003-04-21 12:06 ]

Linda | April 21, 06:42 CET

Ack, Linda, that's a spoiler! Could you maybe edit your comment so that those of us who are going spoiler-free (and don't expect to find them in spoiler-free threads) can tread safely here? It would be much appreciated.

keever | April 21, 07:40 CET

Excellent article. Her thoughts regarding Buffy's beatification would - if it were to eventuate - put an interesting spin on the end of the series.

I agree in regards her sentiments towards Xander. Expanding on Xander's ultimate fate, (and let's just ignore my username for a sec ;)) I would feel gypped if Xander was to die in the finale. It would be like "Well, what was the point of having him survive all that just to die at the eleventh hour? Was he simply the token straight man purely for the sake of it?"

Guess we'll all know shortly. (Well,uh, North Americans will. Us Aussies won't know until later in the year. Gah!)

xanfan | April 21, 14:48 CET